After reading this thread, I started looking for a jigsaw generator. I found this older thread. In both of them there are some links, google found a few others. All in all, I wasn’t satisfied with the results, so I wrote my own. I hope this is useful to some of you as well.
This is great, @Draradech! Thanks for creating it so that the rows and columns are created from individual paths versus creating puzzle shapes. This is definitely the best approach to lasing a puzzle.
When I opened the file in Illustrator, it opened as one large compound path that all of the other paths (perimeter border, rows, columns) were contained in. When I released that compound path, I was able to see all of the individual paths. I don’t have a Glowforge to test with so I’m not 100% sure how it will handle a complex compound path that is designed for a cut operation; I know for engraving, the UI will accept compound paths that have a fill applied. I don’t know if it will drill down into the compound path itself to recognize the individual paths and use those individual paths for determining cut operations.
Maybe someone will load it into the GF UI and test it for us!
Is it programatically an additional step to create a compound path from the results?
I directly generate raw svg (or more precise, the d attribute of a single svg path) in javascript (as a string operation). In that case it’s easier to create a compound path (one move command, then keep going) instead of singular paths (close the current path, open a new one, move command, keep going).
I know of the overlapping, I think it’ll be a problem even before, though (very thin connections for some pieces). I just wanted to keep all options open. Minimum tab size with maximum jitter (or the other way around) is still useful, just don’t put both too high.
